Civilization: Beyond Earth Benchmarked

Hexes live on. Sid Meier's successful gaming series moves on to the next round with Beyond Earth. We don't just mean content-wise -- in terms of graphics, too, the game is on the move. Thanks to Mantle support, AMD-based computers should have a noticeable advantage over Nvidia systems. We ran the tests and have laid out the results for you here.

Florian Glaser (translated by Ariana Brodsky), Published 11/10/2014 🇩🇪

For the original German article, see here.

Graphics

Like its predecessor, Beyond Earth doesn't exactly offer stunning visuals. Whether we're talking about texture quality, polygon count, or effects: The turn-based strategy game's graphics are mostly limited to the necessities. Even so, the new Civilization game gains our respect for its nice details and overall look that just works. In other disciplines, too, there's not much to critique: At a size of about 6 MB, the game proves to be relatively compact. Some of this year's games need seven times the space (The Evil Within, Shadow of Mordor, Wolfenstein: The New Order).

We're fans of the video menu -- it looks clean and has a ton of detail options. Under "Graphics Profile", the overall quality can be changed with just one click. There are also switches for anti-aliasing (2-8x MSAA) and the resolution. Vertical synchronization eliminates image tearing.

Frustrating, on the other hand, is the fact that many settings changes require the game to be restarted. Not only that, but the intro videos can't be interrupted and Beyond Earth takes a long time to load the main menu (even with an SSD). Now and again, Civilization doesn't start correctly in full screen mode, though there is a trick to solve that problem (right click on the taskbar symbol "close window"). In general, the programming behind the graphics seems a little underdeveloped. The game even crashed on several systems.

One of Beyond Earth's biggest highlights is that it supports AMD's Mantle API, which competes with Microsoft's DirectX interface. Thanks to many optimizations, Mantle is supposed to work more efficiently. We did notice a small increase in performance in our tests (+5 % @ Radeon R9 M290X & R9 280X), but the improvement isn't really groundbreaking. In most cases, Nvidia can keep up quite well.

Apart from that, the game's performance is very closely tied to the GPU's raw power. Taking a look at the benchmark table, it's clear that the processor is only a limiting factor at the lowest quality setting -- at least when it comes to Intel notebooks -- and that only in systems with high-end GPUs. While the frame rate sometimes varies greatly from preset to preset (High/Ultra being exceptions), the differences in visuals are more limited. Excellent: According to our benchmarks, MSSA doesn't cost a lot in terms of performance.

The drivers we used are, of course, the current versions from Nvidia (344.48 WHQL) and AMD (14.9.2 Beta). Windows 7 users should be careful when downloading the Catalyst driver. Even though we selected the right option, the standard site ("AMD Catalyst Packages") only has a Windows 8 .exe file that doesn't function properly with Windows 7. The appropriate download is only available on the detail page.

Benchmark

Hidden benchmarks seem to be all the rage lately. Like Alien: Isolation, Beyond Earth also offers a performance test that can only be activated with a little finesse. To get to the benchmark, under "Set Launch Options" (right click on the game in Steam, select "Properties") you have to add the command -benchmark lategameview. The next time the program boots, the test will initialize automatically.

Because the benchmark provided is a worst-case-scenario segment with tons of things going on, even powerful GPUs break into a sweat (especially when it comes to the minimum fps). We were pleased with the fact that the benchmark delivered constant results -- unsurprisingly, since the sequence is 100% identical every time.

We were not so pleased with the fact that the game doesn't display the results at the end of the sequence. Instead of presenting the minimum, average and maximum frame rates right after the test, Beyond Earth just stores them in the program folder (SteamSteamAppscommonSid Meier's...) in a file named lategameview. At first glance, the file appears to be full of arbitrary numbers -- only after some spreadsheet analysis did we finally get our sought-after results.

Because it was simple, we used an online tool we programmed ourselves to calculate the frame rates (see above screenshot), though this tool was only intended for internal use. If necessary, you could also record the benchmark using Fraps. Except for the minimum frame rates, the results are almost identical. Unfortunately, Fraps only works in DirectX mode, not in Mantle mode.

Results

Even though Beyond Earth is no graphic wonder, the game requires a fair amount of computational power. For the lowest setting (1024 x 768), you'll need at least a GeForce GT630M, Radeon HD 8650G or HD Graphics 4600. Older entry-level GPUs like the Radeon HD 7660G or the HD Graphics 3000/4000 are already out of their league here.

Medium details and 1366 x 768 pixels can only be rendered more or less fluidly by a GeForce GT 750M or above. For the "High" preset and 1920 x 1080 pixels, we suggest a GeForce GTX 765M or better. If you want to activate the "Ultra" preset with 4x anti-aliasing, you'll need a card on par with the GTX 850M, GTX 860M or GTX 770M.

Civilization: Beyond Earth
1920x1080 Ultra Preset AA:4x MS 1920x1080 High Preset 1366x768 Medium Preset 1024x768 Minimum Preset
GeForce GTX 980, 3770K Desktop-PC	110.8 (52^min) fps ∼78% 119.8 (54^min) fps ∼77% 149 (55^min) fps ∼54% 150.9 (58^min) fps ∼56%
Radeon R9 280X, 3770K Desktop-PC	65.5 (40^min) fps ∼46% 72.2 (45^min) fps ∼47% 103.1 (54^min) fps ∼37% 160.3 (68^min) fps ∼59%
GeForce GTX 880M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	53.6 (24^min) fps ∼38% 60.3 (25^min) fps ∼39% 94.3 (35^min) fps ∼34% 143.3 (58^min) fps ∼53%
GeForce GTX 780M, 4700MQ Schenker W503	47.6 (20^min) fps ∼34% 51.4 (26^min) fps ∼33% 81.9 (27^min) fps ∼30% 135.9 (37^min) fps ∼50%
GeForce GTX 870M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	45.1 (19^min) fps ∼32% 51.4 (22^min) fps ∼33% 81.1 (30^min) fps ∼29% 142.5 (57^min) fps ∼53%
Radeon R9 M290X, 4700MQ Schenker W504	44 (28^min) fps ∼31% 48.9 (33^min) fps ∼32% 76.5 (43^min) fps ∼28% 152.7 (71^min) fps ∼56%
GeForce GTX 860M, 4700MQ Schenker W504	34.2 (15^min) fps ∼24% 41.3 (18^min) fps ∼27% 63.7 (24^min) fps ∼23% 141.8 (52^min) fps ∼52%
GeForce GTX 770M, 4700MQ Schenker W503	30 (14^min) fps ∼21% 32.7 (15^min) fps ∼21% 53.4 (17^min) fps ∼19% 123.6 (30^min) fps ∼46%
GeForce GTX 850M, 4340M Schenker M504	29.7 (10^min) fps ∼21% 35.5 (20^min) fps ∼23% 54.9 (28^min) fps ∼20% 109.2 (50^min) fps ∼40%
GeForce GTX 765M, 4700MQ Schenker W503	24.7 (10^min) fps ∼17% 27.8 (12^min) fps ∼18% 41.7 (17^min) fps ∼15% 109.8 (33^min) fps ∼41%
GeForce GT 750M, 4702MQ Schenker M503	14.7 (8^min) fps ∼10% 16.8 (9^min) fps ∼11% 26.4 (12^min) fps ∼10% 66.7 (24^min) fps ∼25%
Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop), A10-7850K, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU A10-7850K Asus A88-XM-PLUS	14 (9^min) fps ∼10% 15.6 (10^min) fps ∼10% 24 (14^min) fps ∼9% 65 (32^min) fps ∼24%
Iris Pro Graphics 5200, 4750HQ, Intel SSD 525 Series SSDMCEAC180B3 SCHENKER S413	13.6 (7^min) fps ∼10% 16.3 (9^min) fps ∼11% 24.2 (10^min) fps ∼9% 53.3 (12^min) fps ∼20%
GeForce GT 740M, 4200M HP Envy 15-j011sg	12 (5^min) fps ∼8% 14.5 (6^min) fps ∼9% 23 (11^min) fps ∼8% 61.4 (29^min) fps ∼23%
GeForce GT 640M, 2637M, Lite-On LMT-256M3M Acer Aspire M3-581TG	17.4 (9^min) fps ∼6% 43.8 (17^min) fps ∼16%
GeForce GT 720M, 4200M, WDC Scorpio Blue WD10JPVX-22JC3T0 MSI CX61-i572M	9 (0^min) fps ∼6% 15.4 (0^min) fps ∼6% 44.8 (0^min) fps ∼17%
HD Graphics 4600, 4700MQ Schenker W503	7.4 (5^min) fps ∼5% 8.9 (5^min) fps ∼6% 13.7 (8^min) fps ∼5% 37 (18^min) fps ∼14%
Radeon HD 8650G, A10-5750M, Samsung SSD 470 Series MZ-5PA256/EU Pumori Test Platform (A10-5750M)	14.9 (0^min) fps ∼5% 38.7 (0^min) fps ∼14%
GeForce GT 630M, 3720QM, Seagate Momentus 7200.5 ST9750420AS Asus N56VM	6.7 (2^min) fps ∼5% 7.7 (3^min) fps ∼5% 13 (3^min) fps ∼5% 35.6 (4^min) fps ∼13%
HD Graphics 4000, 3720QM Asus N56VM	8.1 (2^min) fps ∼3% 18.2 (4^min) fps ∼7%

Test Systems

Four of our test systems are courtesy of Schenker Technologies (mysn.de):

W504 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 860M, GTX 870M, GTX 880M, Radeon R9 M290X)
W503 (Core i7-4700MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 765M, GTX 770M, GTX 780M)
M504 (Core i5-4340M, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GTX 850M)
M503 (Core i7-4702MQ, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 750M)

Windows 7 (64 bit) is installed on each of these notebooks.

GPU drivers used: Nvidia 344.48, AMD 14.9.2 Beta, Intel 10.18.10.3960

Further test devices are courtesy of Nvidia:

HP Envy 15-j011sg (Core i5-4200M, 12 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 740M)
MSI CX61-i572M281BW7 (Core i5-4200M, 8 GB DDR3, GeForce GT 720M)
Acer Aspire Timeline Ultra M3-581TG (Core i7-2637M, 4GB DDR3, Geforce GT 640M)

Intel also furnished us with one:

Schenker S413 (Core i7-4750HQ, 8 GB DDR3, Iris Pro Graphics 5200)

The desktop computers are equipped with CPUs/APUs from Intel and AMD, SSDs from Micron, Intel and Samsung, mainboards from Intel and Asus, as well as graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD.

Overview

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 585 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

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Florian Glaser, 2014-11-10 (Update: 2021-05-18)

Pos	Model	< Prev Next > Civilization: Beyond Earth (2014)
Pos	Model	low 1024x768 Minimum Preset	med. 1366x768 Medium Preset	high 1920x1080 High Preset	ultra 1920x1080 Ultra Preset 4x MSAA
151	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M SLI	175.2	172.5	154.6	141.9
154	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980	150.9	149	117.3ⁿ²	108.6ⁿ²
167	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M SLI	159.4	150.9	115.2	104.6
213	AMD Radeon R9 290X	199	171	117	106
220	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M	132ⁿ³	105.6ⁿ³	88.1ⁿ³	76ⁿ³
224	AMD Radeon R9 280X	160.3	103.1	72.2	65.5
226	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960	167.8	131	90.9	77.1
235	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M	158	120.4	79.75ⁿ²	69.75ⁿ²
255	AMD Radeon R7 370	186.4	83.5	57.2	50.4
257	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 880M	143.3	94.3	60.3	53.6
266	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M	135.9	81.9	51.4	47.6
272	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M	121.8	88.2	61.1	49.9
276	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 870M	142.5	81.1	51.4	45.1
277	AMD Radeon R9 M290X	152.7	76.5	48.9	44
297	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960M	104.45ⁿ²	67.15ⁿ²	45.35ⁿ²	39.55ⁿ²
321	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770M	123.6	53.4	32.7	30
326	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 860M	104.3ⁿ²	57.45ⁿ²	38.25ⁿ²	32.8ⁿ²
334	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950M		55.3	37.8	30.7
341	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 850M	109.2ⁿ³	54.9ⁿ³	35.5ⁿ³	29.7ⁿ³
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Civilization: Beyond Earth
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra
345	AMD Radeon R9 M280X	72.3	48.6	31.3	19
352	NVIDIA GeForce GTX 765M	109.8	41.7	27.8	24.7
380	AMD Radeon R9 M370X	85.7	39.2	26.8	22.7
419	AMD Radeon R9 M265X	65.9	29.8	19.9	16.8
429	NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M	66.7	26.4	16.8	14.7
432	NVIDIA GeForce 940MX	67.2	29.7	21.4	17.3
436	NVIDIA GeForce 940M	64.3ⁿ³	28.2ⁿ³	18.9ⁿ³	15.4ⁿ³
447	AMD Radeon R9 M375	48	32	21.6
463	AMD Radeon R7 M275DX	49ⁿ²	22.65ⁿ²	15.2ⁿ²	15.85ⁿ²
467	AMD Radeon R7 512 Cores (Kaveri Desktop)	65	24	15.6	14
468	Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200	53.3	24.2	16.3	13.6
477	NVIDIA GeForce GT 740M	61.4	23	14.5	12
479	NVIDIA GeForce 930M	57.3	50.6ⁿ²	19.5
486	NVIDIA GeForce 830M	50.6	21.2	14.9	12.5
512	AMD Radeon R7 M260X	40.8	18.2	12.8	11.2
522	AMD Radeon R7 M265	25	19.3	13
527	NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M	43.8	17.4
529	AMD Radeon R7 (Kaveri)	51.4	21.8	15.6	13.1
530	AMD Radeon R8 M365DX	30.2	19.5	14.5	12.8
534	AMD Radeon R7 M360	38.2	31.2	20.8	15.6
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Civilization: Beyond Earth
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra
547	AMD Radeon R7 M260	29.3	21.7	15
563	Intel HD Graphics 530	57.7	22.3	13.1	10.9
569	AMD Radeon R6 (Carrizo)	32.4	19	11.3	8.8
609	AMD Radeon HD 8670M	22.2	15.9
610	AMD Radeon R6 M255DX	34.4	12.3	7.4	6.5
629	AMD Radeon HD 8650G	38.7	14.9
634	NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M	35.6	13	7.7	6.7
640	AMD Radeon R5 M255	62	26.9	16	15.6
644	NVIDIA GeForce 820M	36.3	14.3
646	Intel Iris Graphics 6100	43.4	23.2	15.9	12.6
648	NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M	44.8	15.4	9
650	AMD Radeon R5 M240	33.4	18.4	11.6
652	AMD Radeon R5 M230	17.5	12.6	7.8
662	Intel HD Graphics 6000	40.9	20.8	13.3	10.7
665	Intel Iris Graphics 5100	32.3ⁿ²	13.85ⁿ²	9.95ⁿ²
669	Intel HD Graphics 4600	35.65ⁿ²	13.35ⁿ²	8.65ⁿ²	7.4
671	Intel HD Graphics 5500	38.3ⁿ⁵	18.1ⁿ⁵	10.5ⁿ⁴	8
702	AMD Radeon HD 7660G	20
705	Intel HD Graphics 5000	15.5	12.2
742	Intel HD Graphics 4400	23.5	10
Pos	Model	< Prev Next >Civilization: Beyond Earth
Pos	Model	low	med.	high	ultra
777	Intel HD Graphics 5300	21.2	8.8	5.8	4.5
786	Intel HD Graphics 4000	18.2	8.1
792	AMD Radeon R5 (Beema/Carrizo-L)	32.1	10.1
793	AMD Radeon R4 (Beema)	33.2	10.2
795	AMD Radeon R3 (Mullins/Beema)	27.6ⁿ²	9.5ⁿ²
798	Intel HD Graphics 4200	7.3	4.2
829	AMD Radeon HD 8350G	25.8	8.7
853	Intel HD Graphics (Braswell)	6	3.2
907	Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail)	16.2	6.1
913	Intel HD Graphics 3000	9.5
978	Intel HD Graphics (Bay Trail)	10.55ⁿ²	4.3

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.